Individual honors were put aside for team pride. If a personal record occurred in the process, that was a bonus.

Leah Meuter didn't set a blistering pace, but she set the tempo for Salinas High, taking four teammates along with her.

"I just wanted our team to do well,'' the sophomore distance runner said.

Shaving 50 seconds off her career best had a trickle-down effect on a day of personal bests.

Breaking 20 minutes for the first time on Toro Park's 3.01-mile course, Meuter ran off with the Salinas City Meet girls cross country title Wednesday, helping the Cowboys to their second straight team title.

"I didn't feel my best,'' said Meuter, who is undefeated this fall on the Toro Park course. "The hills hurt today.''

Perhaps because Meuter pushed the pace on the hills.

Meuter's pace propelled her next three teammates to career bests as the Cowboys swept the first four spots and coasted to a 36-point win over runner-up North Salinas.

"We might be ahead of where I hoped we would be at this point,'' Salinas coach Roger Chagnon said.

Last week Salinas knocked off perennial power San Benito in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division Center Meet.

"The kids understand there's a bigger picture,'' Chagnon said. "We're in the hunt for a league title and perhaps a top 5 spot in the Central Coast Section in Division I.''

All that mattered on this afternoon was the team title, the 17th in the last 20 years for Salinas.

"We take it seriously,'' Chagnon said.

So did Alisal, who held off the Cowboys in the boys division to defend its team title by four points.

"Time was an issue,'' Alisal's Orlando Sanchez said. "But the goal was to defend our title. If we win the team title, we all win.''

Alisal came into the meet as one of the top ranked Division I teams in the CCS

"I felt good,'' Sanchez said. "I wanted to go out and get a personal best.''

Which is what the senior did, chasing individual champion Ivan Pina of North Salinas for nearly two miles, finishing in second in 16:47.

"I ran with him through the hills,'' Sanchez said. "Coming down the hills, he kind of separated from me. The goal was the team title.''

Pina, who won a big invitational over the weekend in Angels Camp, took Sanchez, Alisal's Luis Vargas and Salinas' Robert Cerda and Alex Adams with him for about 2,000 meters before pulling away on the hills.

"I'm still not in the shape I want to be in,'' Pina said. "I'm still getting a little sore after some races. But feel like my aerobic capacity is much better.''

A leg injury kept Pina from running all summer. He wasn't cleared to run until the end of August, meaning he lost more than 100 training miles.

"Today I felt good,'' Pina said.

That is until he heard head coach Alan Green tell him he had started too slow over the first 400 meters.

"I thought it was a good pace,'' said Pina, who set a personal best, by 21 seconds, of 16:32. "When he said that, I'm thinking 'are you serious?'"

Green was.

So when Pina approached the three hills around the 2-mile mark, he asserted himself from the pack.

"I tried to get some separation,'' said Pina, who along with 20 teammates, will take part Oct. 11 in an invitational in New York City. "I lost almost everybody.''

Pina was speaking about Sanchez, whom he pulled away from down the hills, winning the race by 15 seconds.

For Pina, he has now dropped 34 seconds off his career best at Toro Park in his last two meets.

"These are two of the best teams I've had in a while,'' Green said.

The same can be said for Salinas' girls squad, who is young and dropping time in bunches.